hacía...que, desde hacía que

Sherri ..C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

hacía...que, desde hacía que

The subtlety of this concept is lost on me.  Can you explain in more detail the difference between these two sentences, please.

Hacía unos meses que trabajaba con su padre.
He had been working with his dad for a few months.

Trabajaba en la empresa desde hacía tres años.
He had been working in the company for 3 years.

Asked 4 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Sheri,

both structures are used to express the same, however each of them has a different form:

1. Hacía + length of time + que + a verb in the imperfect

or

2. A verb in the imperfect + desde hacía + length of time

But they both convey the same. Here is an example saying the same thing using both structures:

1. Hacía 6 meses que trabajaba en esa empresa.

2. Trabajaba en esa empresa desde hacía 6 meses.

Saludos

Inma

 

 

Sherri .. asked:

hacía...que, desde hacía que

The subtlety of this concept is lost on me.  Can you explain in more detail the difference between these two sentences, please.

Hacía unos meses que trabajaba con su padre.
He had been working with his dad for a few months.

Trabajaba en la empresa desde hacía tres años.
He had been working in the company for 3 years.

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